Darth Sideous
Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, was the last Chancellor of the Galactic Republic and the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire. He was a Dark Lord of the Sith who followed the Rule of Twoand was the most powerful Sith Lord the galaxy had ever known. Palpatine was able to establish his Empire by concocting a complex master plan, which involved starting the Clone Wars, a galaxy-wide conflict that cost billions of sentient lives, and secretly playing both sides, until he replaced the Republic with the Galactic Empire and nearly exterminated the Jedi. Palpatine's origins were always hidden in obscurity, but it is known that he was born on Naboo eighty-two years before the Battle of Yavin. He later entered politics, representing his homeworld of Naboo in the Galactic Senate. Secretly, he was trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force by Darth Plagueis, whom he later murdered. Sidious adopted the title of Dark Lord of the Sith for himself and took the young Darth Maul as his Sith apprentice. He was able to conceal his dark side powers from the Jedi, leading a double life. He exploited this in 32 BBY, manipulating many political figures to initiate a blockade of Naboo by the Trade Federation. In the wake of the conflict, the Galactic Senate voted to elect him Supreme Chancellor. The first phase of his master plan was complete. Palpatine orchestrated a devastating galaxy-wide conflict, the Clone Wars, ten years after the Naboo Crisis. He himself headed both the Galactic Republic and, secretly, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, whose public leader was none other than Count Dooku, his second apprentice. He prolonged the conflict in order to gain more executive powers from the Senate. Simultaneously, he seduced the young Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, who viewed Palpatine as a mentor and paternal figure, in order to sway him to the ways of the dark side. Eventually, he revealed his duplicity to Skywalker, who threatened to kill him before Palpatine convinced him that he could teach him how to protect his loved ones from death. When his power as Chancellor had reached its dictatorial peak, Palpatine abolished the Republic and replaced it with the first Galactic Empire with himself as leader. Skywalker became his third and last apprentice, Darth Vader, and became the dark executor of the Great Jedi Purge, which nearly exterminated the entire Jedi Order. Emperor Palpatine effectively had total control over the people of the entire galaxy, and he was able to create one of the most powerful military forces the galaxy had ever seen. For seventeen years, Palpatine's rule would go relatively unopposed, as Palpatine focused on the Imperialization of the galaxy and sent Vader to do his bidding. When Darth Vader took Galen Marek as his secret apprentice, Palpatine continued to manipulate Vader so that Marek could find the Emperor's enemies. Disgruntled former Imperial senators founded the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and Palpatine's new plan backfired, as the Galactic Civil War would last for many years after Marek's sacrifice at Palpatine's hands. Palpatine then focused on the completion of the Death Star, a superweapon constructed since the beginning of the Clone Wars. Even after its destruction in 0 BBY, Palpatine generally stayed inside the Imperial Palace on Coruscant and used Vader as his executor. In 4 ABY, the Alliance planned an attack on Endor in order to destroy the new Death Star II after acquiring information from spies and a mission to Korriban. However, Palpatine had planned ahead, and the Alliance was heading right into a trap. Palpatine planned to seduce Luke Skywalker, his apprentice's son, into joining him in order to replace Vader. After Luke refused to give in, heelectrocuted him, but Vader redeemed himself, throwing Palpatine into the Death Star's shaft and killing him, giving up his own life fulfill the prophecy of the Chosen One. In the space battle, the Death Star II was destroyed, and the Empire was dealt a crushing blow, and slowly declined over the next several years as the New Republic rose to power. His spirit traveled to Byss, where he inhabited a clone body that he had prepared beforehand. Six years after his first death at Endor, he launched a massive offensive from the Deep Core—one that came close to destroying the New Republic. Palpatine even took Luke Skywalker as his apprentice, but he was redeemed soon after. The victories would not last long, as Palpatine's clones were sabotaged by the former Emperor's Royal Guard, Carnor Jax. Palpatine was killed one final time during his attempt to possess Anakin Solo's body on Onderon, when, after Han Solo shot his final clone body, Empatojayos Brand, a former Jedi Knight, bound his soul to Palpatine's, dragging Darth Sidious deep into the depths of the Force so that he could never again return.